Mayo Clinic researchers gave brain scans to 141 Minnesotans who had been experiencing memory
problems, and found those who had suffered a brain injury that caused them to black-out had more amyloid
plaques in their brain than those who hadn’t.

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Amyloid plaque is the telltale sign of Alzheimer’s disease,
formed by pieces of a sticky protein that break off in the brain and clump together. Some
clumps may form in brain regions involved in learning, memory and
thinking, the Alzheimer’s Association explains. More plaques form as the disease progresses.

Researchers gave brain scans to 448 people without any
memory or cognitive problems, and 141 people who had mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition characterized by declines in memory and thinking skills that
aren’t caused by aging. They were also asked whether they had ever experienced
a brain injury that caused them to lose consciousness. People with MCI are at a
heightened risk of developing Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia, but not
everyone with the condition will get worse.

Brain abnormalities from mild concussions may last monthsThe researchers found 18 percent of those with MCI had
reported a prior brain injury, and on scans, they saw the patients had an average of 18 percent more amyloid plaques than those with no history of head
trauma. They found no plaque differences in any of the brain scans of
people without memory problems, regardless of whether they'd had a brain injury.

"Interestingly, in people with a history of concussion,
a difference in the amount of brain plaques was found only in those with memory
and thinking problems, not in those who were cognitively normal," study
author Dr. Michelle Mielke, a researcher who studies the epidemiology of
neurodegenerative diseases at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn, said in a
statement. “The fact that we did not find a relationship in those without
memory and thinking problems suggests that any association between head trauma
and amyloid is complex."

One expert not involved in the
study thinks the research may lead to earlier interventions to protect injured
brains.

"Drugs that block the
development of amyloid or increase its removal from the brain may help protect
persons with traumatic brain injury from Alzheimer's disease, though that has
not been demonstrated," Dr. Richard Lipton, director of the Division of
Cognitive Aging and Dementia and the Montefiore Headache Center at Albert
Einstein College Of Medicine in New York City, toldUSA Today.